Justin Kerr
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Posts by Justin Kerr
Nvidia launches Fermi Based GeForce GT 610, GT 620, & GT 630
08 hours ago
by Justin Kerr
in Syndicated Sites
Nvidia is a master of marketing, so when they “quietly” launched the GeForce GT 610, 620, and 630 into the retail channel late last week, we knew something was up. It turns out of the three new cards, none of these are actually based on the most recently released Kepler architecture behind the GTX 670, 680, and 690, and are in reality based on the last generation designs. We knew Nvidia was already rebranding Fermi parts for use in OEM laptops and desktops, however it looks like the practice will again carry forward to the aftermarket parts as well.
The GT 610 is a rebadged GT 520, which could mean we are looking at a GF119, or GF 108 GPU, featuring a pretty paltry 48 CUDE cores. The GT 610 is intended to be the entry level 600 series card, and is unlikely to even outpace integrated graphics found on modern Ivy Bridge chips.
The GT 620 is a variant of the OEM-only GT 530, and features a slightly more respectable 96 CUDA cores. Twice the CUDA cores will help, but like the GT 610, the GT 620 only has a 64 bit memory bus which no doubt be a bottleneck.
The GT 630 is defiantly saving the best for last, however it doesn’t take much to stand out in this crowd. This card is a rebadged GT 440, and contains 96 CUDA cores, though with a slightly more respectable 128 bit memory bus.
We wish Nvidia would quit it with the rebadging as it only leads to confusion, but at least it will help them fill out the low end options faster than trying to scale down Kepler.
(Image Credit = AnandTech)
Nvidia Acknowledges Kepler V-Sync Stuttering Issues and Promises a Prompt Driver Fix
010 hours ago
by Justin Kerr
in Syndicated Sites
Nvidia’s new Kepler-based graphics cards are still fairly new on the scene, but a fairly serious new bug has emerged that started out as a forum rant, and has evolved into an official acknowledgement from the green team. The problem in question seems to be limited to GTX 670, 680, & 690 customers who enable v-sync though the Nvidia control panel, and by most accounts, is pretty infuriating.
Multiple news outlets have requested a comment from NVidia on the issue, however a response to the forum thread has finally brought closure to the issue, which by the sound of it, will be resolved in next month’s drive release.
We have received reports of an intermittent v-sync stuttering issue from some of our customers. We’ve root caused the issue to a driver bug and identified a fix for it. The fix requires extensive testing though, and will not be available until our next major driver release targeted for June (post-R300). For users experiencing this issue, the interim workaround is to disable v-sync via the Nvidia Control Panel or in-game graphics settings menu.
Microsoft Plans to Kill the Aero UI Prior To Final Windows 8 Release
012 hours ago
by Justin Kerr
in Syndicated Sites
Microsoft has made some huge changes to its desktop UI in Windows 8, however it looks like they aren’t done yet. The Aero Glass UI first introduced in Windows Vista brought us translucent window borders, rounded corners, and an interface that was designed to blend into the background. These effects remained in the consumer preview, and will appear again in the release preview, however Microsoft today confirmed they would be axed from the final shipping version.
Microsoft makes its case for killing off Aero in a nauseatingly long 10,000 + word blog post, but to save you time here are the approximately 200 words which are actually worth reading.
“We want desktop windows to continue to feel light and airy, and we want a chrome style that doesn’t distract from the content of the app … Aero was designed to help the app’s content to be the center of attention, and for the Windows system UI to recede into the background. This is still relevant today, and while we are moving beyond Aero, we don’t want to lose sight of these goals.”
“We made a conscious effort to relate the visual appearance of the Windows 8 desktop to the visual appearance of the familiar Windows 7 desktop. This helps people who want to predominantly use the desktop feel comfortable and immediately at home in the new environment.”
“We applied the principles of ‘clean and crisp’ when updating window and taskbar chrome. Gone are the glass and reflections. We squared off the edges of windows and the taskbar. We removed all the glows and gradients found on buttons within the chrome. We made the appearance of windows crisper by removing unnecessary shadows and transparency. The default window chrome is white, creating an airy and premium look. The taskbar continues to blend into the desktop wallpaper, but appears less complicated overall. To complete the story, we updated the appearance of most common controls, such as buttons, check boxes, sliders, and the Ribbon. We squared off the rounded edges, cleaned away gradients, and flattened the control backgrounds to align with our chrome changes. We also tweaked the colors to make them feel more modern and neutral.”
Killing off Aero effects should help to improve battery life on laptops and tablets, though it looks like desktop users who prefer this look will be out of luck as well. White windows and square corners might not sound like a big deal, but to some it might be yet another unwelcome change. What do you think of the change?
The Proof is in – The Switch From Fluxless Solder to Thermal Paste is the Cause of Poor Ivy Bridge Overclocking Temperatures
01 week ago
by Justin Kerr
in Syndicated Sites
After a ton of speculation, a bit of denial, and a ton of testing we finally have our answer. The thermal interface material change made by Intel when it went from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge is indeed the cause of the excessive temperatures we’ve observed while overclocking. The first accusation was made in late-April by Overclockers.com, however proving it wasn’t easy. The Japanese division of PC Watch somehow managed to remove the integrated heat spreader from a Core i7 3770k, along with the stock binding and grease. They then proceed to replace it with aftermarket alternatives, and the results speak for themselves.
The findings are undisputable. By swapping out the TIM with OCZ Freeze and Coolaboratory Liquid Pro, they were able to lower the temperatures by up to 18% off a stock clocked chip, and a whopping 23% when overclocked from 3.5GHz to 4GHz. Chips with the aftermarket TIM were also able to sustain higher core voltages, which of course will lead to better overclocking potential.
The report concludes that Intel’s decision to move away from the fluxless solder used in Sandy Bridge has unfortunately crippled the overclocking potential of this generation of CPU’s. Its possible Intel may eventually change the design back, however with AMD lagging pretty far behind these days they really don’t have much incentive to do so. Enthusiasts really only have one place to shop for CPU’s these days.
Ivy Bridge is still an amazing push forward performance wise, it’s just unfortunate that the potential for even more is there and we can’t get at it.
(Image Credit = PC Watch)
Bing Scoops Up 30% of the US Search Market
01 week ago
by Justin Kerr
in Syndicated Sites
The geek community at large seems to be pretty loyal to the Google brand, however, out what seems like nowhere, Bing is finally picking up steam. According to a Hitwise report, Bing now accounts for 30% of all U.S. web searches, and most of their gains seem to have come at the expense of Google.
Bing has managed to grow its US search quarries by an impressive 11% over the last twelve months, while Google in contrast has dropped by the exact same amount. They are still a distant second at this point, however it’s hard to argue with this type of growth.
Bing just recently started rolling out its new social search design to compete with Google’s “Search Plus Your World”, however it remains to be seen if this will accelerate their growth, or drive everyone off.
